If you’ve ever attended ASCENT, you know it feels like the kind of week that just works (hopefully). But what most people never see is the massive amount of planning that happens long before the first student arrives on site. As the ASCENT Planning team, we want to pull back the curtain a bit and share both the challenges and the blessings that go into preparing ASCENT each year.
Because camp doesn’t “just happen.”
It’s built—piece by piece, prayer by prayer—by a community of leaders who believe deeply in the next generation.
The Challenge: A New Location for ASCENT 2026
This year’s biggest challenge came early: ASCENT 2026 is moving to a brand-new location. We didn’t want to change camps, but we had to. So we looked at over 350 camps and narrowed it down to 10 and then one. (You can read the full announcement here)
Changing venues is far more than signing a contract. It requires:
- Reevaluating housing capacity, recreation spaces, and worship environments
- Ensuring safety standards, transportation routes, and food services
- Redesigning the flow of sessions, workshops, and free-time areas
- Rebuilding the camp map, scheduling structure, and registration process
- Re-imagining every tradition within a brand-new physical space
It means learning a new campus, new staff, new logistics—and adjusting nearly every part of ASCENT to fit a new home.
It’s exciting, but it’s also stretching. A new location brings creativity and opportunity… but also hundreds of decisions that ripple through the rest of camp planning. And yet—this is where God often shows up most clearly, turning unknowns into growth.
The Blessing: A Returning Worship Band
In the middle of all the changes, we’re also celebrating some amazing good news: our worship band is returning for ASCENT 2026!
(Read the announcement here)
ASCENT worship has become one of the most spiritually significant moments of camp for so many students. Having a consistent, gifted team leading worship year after year grounds the experience with familiarity, quality, and spiritual depth.
Their heart for students and for the presence of God has shaped countless lives. Bringing them back feels like an anchor of continuity in a season of change.
How ASCENT Actually Comes Together
Many people imagine that planning camp is a frantic sprint right before summer. In reality, it’s a year-round process. Our ASCENT Planning Team meets at least four times a year for a planning day, and between those meetings… there are easily a million emails, texts, and phone calls coordinating details big and small. We have a team of 6 people, each with a different role.
Every year, we finalize:
- The overall theme of camp
- Guest speakers, workshop leaders, and special guests
- Theme nights and dressing-up ideas
- Late-night events everything from splash parties to silent discos
- Free-time activities, workshops, and recreational options
- Camp location, facilities, and logistics
- Cost structure and scholarships
- All promotion, design work, and communication
- Counselor training and administrative systems
Camps the size of ASCENT require dozens of people working in sync—worship, media, registration, hospitality, recreation, logistics, safety, teaching, and more. Each one plays a role in making camp the transformative week it is.
The Invisible Work That Makes a Visible Impact
Behind every moment students love—whether it’s a 30-foot water slide, an afterglow worship night, a late-night talent show, or a theme night costume contest—there’s a team of people who prayed, planned, and prepared with excellence.
Behind every speaker who delivers a powerful message, there were weeks of conversations, outlines, calls, and collaboration.
Behind every worship set, there were rehearsals, tech setups, sound checks, and intentional thought about how to help students encounter Jesus.
Behind every counselor, there’s training, support, and a deep investment in discipleship.
ASCENT works because youth pastors, parents, volunteers, and churches believe in raising up the next generation of leaders—and they give their time and creativity to make that mission come alive.
The Reward: Seeing God Move
For all the challenges, planning fatigue, budgeting conversations, and logistical headaches—nothing compares to seeing what God does during ASCENT.
Students worshiping with full hearts.
Small groups praying together late into the night.
New friendships forming.
Callings discovered.
Faith renewed.
Lives changed.
These moments are why ASCENT exists—and they are worth every spreadsheet, meeting, phone call, and problem-solving session along the way.
Grateful for Our USMB Family & Other Churches
ASCENT is not just a camp.
It’s a collaboration.
A community.
A movement of leaders across our churches who care deeply about shaping the spiritual future of our students.
As we approach ASCENT 2026—new location, familiar worship, fresh vision—we’re excited, hopeful, and grateful for everyone who helps make this ministry possible.
The behind-the-scenes work is big… but the blessings are even bigger.
And we can’t wait to see what God does next.
